Major General Robert Howe to George Washington, 5 June 1781
From Major General Robert Howe
West Point 5th June 1781
Dear Sir
The inclos’d Returns of the Provision Endowments of each Work would have been sent your Excellency yesterday had I not hoped for the Honor of seeing you1—The Quantity is too small, but our Magazine will not admit of a farther Supply at present—The Moment it can be done, it shall.
I have examin’d the Magazine & the Ammunition is much expos’d to Injury—I am sorry to add that our Work is at a Stand for Want of Nails or Iron Rods to make them—I have written to Col. Pickering in the most pressing Terms upon the Occasion, & would be glad if your Excellency would also speak to him—Tho’ I doubt not his every possible Exertion.2 I am Dear Sir with the greatest Respect your Excellency’s most obedient Servant
Robert Howe
LS, DLC:GW. The cover is addressed to GW at New Windsor. GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman wrote “write to Colo. stewart” on the cover; this letter to Charles Stewart, commissary general of issues, has not been identified.
1. See Howe to GW, 4 June.
Howe enclosed a “Return of the Provisions in the different Works at west Point &c. June 3d 1781.” The return gave most quantities in barrels: Fort Putnam: bread, 15; beef, 3; peas, 9; Middle Redoubt: bread, 2; beef, 18; North Redoubt: beef, 17; Redoubt No. 1: beef, 7¾; Redoubt No. 2: beef, 10; Redoubt No. 3: beef, 7; and Redoubt No. 4: beef, 10. Fort Wyllys held 8 tierces of beef, Fort Putnam also had 1 tierce and 1 barrel of rum (DLC:GW).
Another enclosure may have been a “Report of the State of Provisions, water casks &c. in the different works at West Point and its dependencies on the West side of the Hudson River” that Maj. Caleb Gibbs dated 3 June and addressed to GW. Gibbs reported “no water” in the numbered redoubts and many containers needed repair. The same redoubts totaled 34½ barrels of “good” and 10 barrels of “bad” provisions. Some “provision casks” were reported as “leaky.” The provisions in Fort Wyllys were “without pickle and need to be immediately repackt.” Fort Webb contained two hogsheads “half filld with water.” Fort Putnam had thirteen hogsheads “fill’d with water” but also salt beef (three barrels), bread (fifteen barrels), peas (nine barrels), and one “tierce rum in the magazine of powder.” The garrison commissary reported no provisions at Fort Clinton (DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 2453).
A “Return of Provisions and Stores on hand & the number of Rations daily Issued on an average,” given at New Windsor on 3 June, reported items at West Point in barrels: flour, 10; pork, 64; fish, 8; soap, 23; beans, 14; and beef, 170. Also at West Point were 7 tierces of beef, 143 casks of salt, 1 hogshead of peas, and 2 cattle. The store at West Point issued 690 rations daily (DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 22067).
2. Howe’s letter to Q.M. Gen. Timothy Pickering has not been identified.